This is Russia's last ever war as a unified power. Putin's nationalistic paranoia has destroyed a potentially great nation. When he pops his clogs it will probably fragment into a bunch of smaller territories. He is so desperate that he's trying to bribe women into having more babies. And he's a gobshite hypocrite to accuse the USA of attempting to destabilise Taiwan & Ukraine.
It will take a very long time for them to replace all the equipment they have lost. And their demographics are against them in terms of raising future armies.
He was never going to turn up as his argument is, it was a kangaroo court and the decision had already been made in the 'secret' meeting the night before.
This is obviously a tricky situation and apparently Sharma has had his lawyer involved for some time, which I’d do to if I were in a tricky spot with my employer. It makes perfect sense to have a meeting to discuss internally the options and possible outcomes before two parties in a dispute meet up. When there is a highly or most likely option it doesn’t necessarily mean that this is a predetermined option & outcome – parties should meet in good faith. However, if one party doesn’t give the other one any other realistic options it may indeed look like it was predetermined from the outset. By not showing up it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and thus a fait accompli. To have a leg to stand on, rather than spinning it to suit your narrative, you must follow (due) process and show good faith.
All of what you say is correct, however Sharma is citing the (recorded) conversation with a fellow MP as evidence that the decision WAS predetermined. I can only see two alternatives: Either that MP completely misread the discussion in the Monday meeting, or the outcome was indeed determined at that meeting.
If Sharma has proof it was pre-determined in the secret meeting that he was not invited to, then the second half of your comment is pretty much irrelevant.
Either you cannot read or you cannot think, or both. If he decided it was pre-determined and acted accordingly, then he forced the outcome to meet his pre-determined expectation. The fact that there was a special meeting set up for and with him strongly suggests that there were still things to discussed and decided. He failed to attend and thus signed his own fate. My question is whether this was reasonable process and whether this could have been handled better by Labour knowing that he’s in a spot of bother, mentally, at least.
Lol "secret meeting." Is there any organisation that wouldn't get relevant people together to discuss what to do about the loose unit who's shitting on them in the media? As for "pre-determined," the only thing surprising there is that they didn't immediately give him the boot.
As for "pre-determined," the only thing surprising there is that they didn't immediately give him the boot.
This is what makes me doubt the 'other' MP or the tape. The other MP says that the Monday meeting had predetermined the outcome and they were going to give him the 'whack',
Instead we find that the actual decision by Caucus and reported by the PM was to suspend him from the Labour Caucus, provide a way back and time for this to occur and mediation.
I am wondering if Sharma's mole misread the tenor of the Monday meeting because I find that what came out after the Caucus meeting on the Tuesday, is far from giving him the whack.
Instead it seems that the function of the meeting was in fact to provide a safe and non-leaking space to express concern & disappointment at their colleagues actions and these will no doubt have been feisty from some.
The other option, other than misreading the tenor of the meeting and/or the function of the Monday meeting and how it relates to the Tuesday caucus, is that the Sharma's source is as lacking in knowledge about process and nuance as Sharma himself.
PM has said that Sharma has misread what his colleague was saying.
The thing is, we've all had to deal with a Gaurav at some time or another in the workplace. The guy who has lost the plot. Got a job he wasn't suited for and has popped a fuse. You might be the HR manager who inwardly sighs when he turns up with his lawyer and 100s of pages in his dossier, knowing you are going to have spend two days a week for the next six months to get rid of the guy. Or you might be the union rep, who has to sit through his diatribe sixty four million times before going to the meeting with the HR manager and fight his corner (been there, done that). Or his line manager who has to meticulously document ever interaction with him. Or his direct reports, who do everything to aviod and not engage and generally keep away from the guy who has lost the plot. Or just a colleague, who smells the taint of dissent and just wants to enjoy his or her job in peace. Once you've lived a while, we will ALL have been around a Gaurav.
Now the fact of the matter is he has lost the plot. That I think is a matter of obvious public record. Being egged on by a salacious, partisan media looking for scandal and breathlessly reported on by lazy court journalists from the press gallery, who like all courtiers thrive on court gossip and preen at being consulted doesn't help anyone but there you have it. The central question then isn't Dr. Sharma's rationality – he is clearly irrational, obsessed and operating with all the bad faith one would expect to come from that – but what led him to lose the plot, which leads us to consider his accusations. Which is all they are. Accusations. He has not offered a shred of evidence to back up his increasingly outlandish claims. The latest "explosive revelation" is he was forced (FORCED, oh the inhumanity!) to attend a workshop (practically the same as the Gulag!) where new candidates were coached on how to avoid OIA requests. Forced to attend a workshop. I mean, for God's sake man get a grip. Words just fail me.
Until he does get some actual evidence then in the great court of public opinion (in the algorthim driven Herald site his story vanished almost immediately) he has, IMHO, been pigeon holed with that Gaurav we've had the misfortune to deal with at least once in our lives at work.
Sad to see, should probably never have got the job, pretty unfortunate all round, all a bit embarassing, avoid at all costs in the lunch room, thank God he is gone, hope he does well somewhere else, let's hope they recruit better next time.
That's very much the impression I get too. When I was working in Kuwait we had a Gaurav who, when HR finally did manage to fire him, got pissed that night and chucked a concrete block through the rear window of the boss' Trans Am. Jacinda Ardern should probably count herself lucky she doesn't own a sports car.
Yeah, yeah, they should have gone all lovey dove with Sharma, 'embraced' him, given him 'another chance.'
Then you would have been on here saying they were gutless, didn't have the balls to deal with him as he should have been dealt with.
And left you to go off sort of as vindictive bunches of shits do. And naturally put aside the truth of the 'dude's' claims. I mean why let facts and the truth intrude?
Given the sensitive nature of some of the allegations, and the historical nature of them, secrecy and confidentiality for the sake of all parties, including those on the receiving end of the actions of Young Uffindel, is entirely appropriate.
This is now the objective of the Herald/NewsHub operatives pushing the story: The "Independent Enquiry into Labour Party Bullying" has a nice ring to it. Just substitute "anti-semitism" for "bullying" and you can see both the historical precedent and the desired outcome.
Jimmy, if your assertion the decision had already been made, self-centred Sharma deserved it by his behaviour to his party and colleagues and former staff. Some self-reflection by him towards simply getting along with people is badly needed. He seems to have no idea about working co-operatively. Right from the start of his entering Parliament he has been difficult to deal with.
Hopefully, by now his Parliamentary "colleagues" have learned that anything they say to him is likely to be recorded and used by him with or without their approval. Also that any personal correspondence to him, or which he has access to will also be publicised by him if it suites his narrative, We saw this earlier in the week when Darien Fenton sent him a personal message suggesting how he might get assistance. He then published it and Darien was subjected to hours of trolling by the usual suspects. The man is coming across as having a very well tuned sense of his own importance and of his own victimhood. Neither seems to rest on firm foundations.
If they can be bothered to dig back far enough (and they won't) they would probably find he has done it before. Those types usually have. And they are very good at playing the victim and turning the innocent party or parties into the perpetrators.
In severe cases, they will go so far as to commit crimes such as stalking, unlawful entries to property and other misdemeanors in order to maintain control over the life of the victim. Making serious allegations (sometimes anonymously) against the victim/victims is another favourite tool. That ensures everyone is concentrating on the victim/victims and not on themselves.
I don't believe Sharma is anywhere near that level, but they exist and some manage to get away with it for a life-time.
Oh god, sorry…. I of course, was forgetting you have had some quite "up close" involvement with those kind of swine.
And yes I do also see Sharma as maybe a lower order variety. Those who have known him..will probably be breathing relief that he didnt go as far on them ?
"I… was forgetting you have had some quite "up close" involvement with those kind of swine."
Their behaviour adversely affected the Labour Party in the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s. Unfortunately I did not know they were the culprits at the time. However that is the reason they later targeted me. Like all guilty parties, they were paranoid I might figure it out and the motivations behind their antics. Quite a story it is. Puts Sharma and co. well into the shadows. 😉
Exactly Anne, "Look at them, meeting without me" "Look at Jacinda lying"
Does he ever look at his own behaviour? Even for a moment? Yes, and he believes "I have done nothing wrong" "I am not the bully"
Sadly, he has accused someone of misappropriation of funds, which turned out to be a travel allowance. Did he apologise?
He wanted someone sacked, it appears an inquiry found against him, and he interpreted that as undermining his authority, which he did not have to begin with.
Now he is calling on friends to back him in the face of an apparent long running situation of "I will lawyer up" "You are asking me/directing me to do training".
He has not appeared for meetings previously, accusing other MPs of some type of agenda. He appears to be quite rigid in his relationships.
Depression and focus on detail and documentation are obvious coping strategies, and his cry about long hours backs that.
He is clever annoying and pedantic, seeming to lose the main idea in a plethora of supposed slights.
Now he has put himself in a corner, so he is letting fly. An enquiry would be difficult as he would not take part in good faith the moment he felt it was not going in his favour.
This is a pattern, and there may be personal issues he knows about and has yet to face imo. Sad for him and the party.
That doesn't excuse Labour using the mental health of the alleged victim of bullying to discredit their claims though (which seems to be what he is claiming).
Doesn't answer the question of who introduced the question and what possib;e reply could be made given that he opened up the topic. Once opened, it had to be addressed.
I note also that you are hiding behind words. You wrote, "(which seems to be what he is claiming). Note the words 'seems' and 'claiming'.
If anyone is claiming without evidence, it is you.
No, I'm simply being cautious. The idea that a person's mental health could be weaponised against him to discredit his complaints is despicable. If true. And we don't know if it's true, we only have his word for it. At the moment, anyway.
If true, all your pontificating and insinuating here is based on idle speculation and the word of one person who is under a huge amount of pressure and, by his own admission, suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts, which will undoubtedly affect his thinking and actions.
If true, you simply keep sucking away oxygen here.
If true, I have enough of this pattern behaviour of yours.
If true, you can draw your own conclusion of what will happen next.
"all your pontificating and insinuating here is based on idle speculation and the word of one person "
He has evidence that he has presented. Text messages. A taped phone conversation that the media have verified comes from another Labour MP. This is either a grand conspiracy, or Labour supporters will have to accept that this government is so transparent we can see right through them.
[You said it yourself:
And we don’t know if it’s true, we only have his word for it.
Now, you’re claiming that there’s more than just his word. I have not seen it and you have not seen it, so you’re speculating and taking him at his word and distrusting the word of many others who deny his word, including the PM and Labour Ministers.
The truth will be somewhere in the middle, as usual when there are two wildly conflicting stories, but your conspiracy thoughts will not get us any closer to it. When new info and/or new insights come to hand and when there are new developments things will hopefully become clearer. Until then you’ll have nothing to add to what you have already said here. I will again put a stop to your oxygen-wasting commenting behaviour here, if I have too. This is your warning – Incognito]
"Now, you’re claiming that there’s more than just his word."
Now you're being dishonest. You know my comment was referring to the warnings he received about Labour weaponising his mental health issues. We do only have his word about that. But we have text's and a recorded phone message as evidence of his other claims.
[Gaslights consume oxygen. You are a major gaslight here on TS. We need oxygen for discourse to flourish. We cannot flourish with you around. Take a week off, this time; I have no time to play games with you and I’ve got much work to do this weekend – Incognito]
C'mon Mac1. Liberty Lady doesn't want the facts. She (if she is a she) only wants to "misrepresent" them so that she can claim a negative agenda which fits into the "Jacinda Ardern is a liar and cheat" meme.
I realise that your natural inclination to be deceitful and dishonest in the interest of a bunch of ultra right-wing losers transcends all genuine considerations.
The Green Party is calling on Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) to agree to improve the pay and conditions of our professional firefighters who are on the front line risking their health and life to protect New Zealanders.
FENZ’s failure to agree to safe staffing levels, to upgrade equipment so it is safe and reliable, and to boost wages means firefighters will be on strike today for one hour between 11am and 12pm, and again on Friday 26 August.
“Firefighters put their health at risk to protect us, so it is crucial that we do everything we can to look after them,” says Jan Logie, Green Party spokesperson for workplace relations and safety.
“Green Party MPs have been visiting fire stations around the country over the last few weeks. Every time, firefighters are raising the same concerns but with more examples specific to their station – dangerously long hours, unsafe equipment, not being listened to, and a lack of appropriate health support or training.
FENZ’s behaviour has been in the least deceptive if not outright dishonest. It is the antithesis of good faith.
FENZ has employed every delay tactic it could over the past 14 months to prolong the bargaining so this has clearly been a strategy from early on. They are aborting a process that was arranged with the support of the Minister in favour of lengthy and costly litigation that may end up in non-binding recommendations and therefore only delay any prospect of resolution.
FENZ would be better to spend the public funding and their energy on resolving the bargaining.
The disrespect to the NZPFU membership is unfathomable.
We’ve long thought that our first responders should be fully professional. Fire, Ambulance, and Surf Lifesaving.
By all means provide a place for volunteers, but ensure that the majority are paid, from the public purse.
I would be a bit more sympathetic to the Firefighter's Union if they had not worked so hard for so long not to allow women into their ranks. Thanks to the persistence of Firefighter England, they were forced by legal action to admit women. However, there has continued to be a steady campaign of harassment and discouragement against female firefighters.
Uffindell has a proven nasty bullying past that should have been enough for him not to be selected as a candidate but National was willing to ignore this. His bullying and anti women violence (“hit the road fatty”) was hidden from voters.
Sharma admits to depression which may explain in part his recent behaviour. He seems to be very self-entitled, perhaps on the basis of his strong academic background. When power/authority/recognition didn't fall into his lap in the rough and tumble of parliament he threw his toys out of the cot. He has turned out to be a bad choice of candidate; this can happen. But none of his claims to have been bullied or other accusations against Labour MP's have been proven.
This is what I'm struggling with Weka. I'm completely lost as to what they're meant to be enquiring into and what the substance of the complaint is. For all the noise there are not a lot of hard allegations of fact in the public domain (unlike Uffindell where it is crystal clear what he is said to have done). Do they just want an enquiry into the general culture within the Labour caucus? If so, to what end? Why stop at Labour – you may as well enquire into the caucus culture of all Parliamentary parties while you're at it. Those would be very broad terms of reference. The usual bad faith actors seem to be just yelling "Independent Enquiry" without knowing what they're really asking for, and these same people would usually be the first to rubbish Labour for wasting money on enquiries.
The staff relationship problems clearly evident in his office.
How they were responded to by parliamentary service and party whips. The steps taken to resolve these and if they were made in a timely and appropriate fashion.
Is the appropriate oversight in place for new Mps given they can suddenly find themselves in people management roles with zero practical experience.
Is it really the party whips' role to manage employment issues between their MPs and the staff assigned to them by Parliamentary Service? Genuine question. I had always thought the whips were there to keep MPs in line on political/policy issues rather than operational matters.
Aside from that, those terms of reference sound reasonable to me although they have little if anything to do with embarrassing the prime minister so I don't think they will satisfy the usual suspects.
I think the whips have a role to play in relation to the Mp and how they deal with staff especially if the Mp is out of their depth.
This could be providing / arranging appropriate support. I'm not sure that's something that has been handled very well in this case and no doubt many others to the detriment of the staffers who end up putting up with shitty behavior.
Parliament is a high pressure environment but the staff dont deserve to be treated like shit and it's not ok that they can be and expected to suck it up. Nick Smith springs to mind.
National’s problem is self-inflicted because they selected a candidate who was upfront and disclosed ‘personal history’ and then failed to manage it. You cannot push forward a candidate and then withdraw your support when the going gets tough. It shows lack of leadership, managerial skills, good process, and loyalty – hiding behind a QC and a secret report is weak, to say the least.
I’d start with a full psychiatric evaluation, which will raise privacy issues, of course, and one cannot be forced to cooperate against their will. So far, one person has made it abundantly clear that he’s not willing to cooperate at all, or follow due process, but that he’s rather inclined to go down his rollercoaster path. Anybody who has some experience with clinical depression (and suicide) may realise that this might be a loud cry for help – it makes me wonder if it was sufficiently known in his workplace and handled appropriately (but not necessarily by his employer(s)) and at face value the answer seems to be “No”.
You are a qualified and registered Psychiatrist or Psychologist are you?
Who did you have in mind for this evaluation by the way? Or are you suggesting it would be best to evaluate all the people accused of bullying. That is beginning to be rather a long list isn't it?
Sharma said that he slowly fell into a cycle of stress and depression. “I thought to myself about how despite listening to and assisting many of my constituents with bullying and harassment issues, I had to put a bold face up as I struggled everyday with the thought of contemplating suicide.”
Any other unhelpful comments you want to make to show your usual prejudice and bias as well as your lack of reading comprehension?
Any professional, legal, medical, or other, knows better than to do a professional assessment and judgement online, least of all on a public forum, on a public figure who’s also in the midst of a controversy (aka shit storm). Clearly, you’re not in that category of professionals and more a sensationalist armchair wrestler.
Or are you suggesting it would be best to evaluate all the people accused of bullying. That is beginning to be rather a long list isn't it?
MPs should model decent behaviour – will be challenging for some, but they can learn – best not to right off new MPs for a few misdemeanours – give them time.
The Parliamentary Code Of Conduct Is A First Step, Much More Is Needed [30 July 2020]
"The culture of Parliament is such that the very behaviours that require the code are demonstrated by MPs who fail to see its necessity. Now that the door is opened, all Parliamentarians need to walk through it and be on their best behaviour prior to the election,"says Suzanne Snively, Chair of Transparency International New Zealand.
I heard Sharma's interview on Newstalk ZB this morning. He gave very specific information about training MPs were given on how to avoid OIA requests, or at least control the narrative.
If that is true, it would have to be concerning. Open and transparent government, not so much.
Its true. Multiple levels of the public service right up to MPs receive training on what is able to be OIA'd and what is not. An important part of OIA legislation is staff being compliant with and understanding it.
Its the same training. The PS tries to avoid being OIA'd all the time, its basically best practice not to have to deal with it. What they take from the training is up to them of course.
Also, in future, please don't tell me your email address when commenting here as it allows somebody to co-opt and impersonate your handle.
Except the claim is that the training was how to avoid being subject to OIA’s.
Do new MPs receive OI requests? There've been any number of claims relating to recent turns of political events, and no doubt more to come. I'd want to read an accurate quote, in context, before forming an opinion – won't stop some though.
On another issue relating to transparency, some believe avoidance is OK, while others see nothing wrong with a little evasion. And then there's minimisation and mitigation – so many ways to 'get ahead'.
Training for something you even questioned happens?
Do you mean my questioning whether ‘new MPs receiving OI requests’ is a thing? I honestly don’t know if that happens – do you?
Of course some new MPs might eventually become Ministers – guess it all depends on how steep Parliament wants that learning curve to be. The training of new MPs is evolving – wonder when new MPs first started getting training relating to OI requests – the OIA has been around for a while (enacted in 1982, under a National Government – who would have guessed!)
If true [How difficult would it have been to include the words immediately below the quote you provided: “Dr Sharma didn’t provide any evidence to support his allegations.“?] – in which case the OIA and other legislation designed to promote open and transparent Government should be beefed up – nothing to hide, nothing to fear.
Political roundup: New Zealand's closed government
So is this the most transparent government ever? Multiple abuses of the Official Information Act (OIA) would suggest otherwise. This mechanism is the most important indicator of open governance, yet it appears to be being weakened by the current government – as was the case with previous governments.
This was a issue highlighted yesterday by Russel Norman in his valedictory speech in Parliament, in which he said the OIA had become "relatively moribund", which means "we've got a problem with accessing information in this country"
"If true [How difficult would it have been to include the words immediately below the quote you provided: “Dr Sharma didn’t provide any evidence to support his allegations.“?]"
But he has provided evidence, hasn't he. His own testimony. And is anyone denying it?
Is that a question? Jamie Ensor, author of the item you (selectively) quoted from @5:03 pm, didn't think so, but maybe he's biased
"They said the staffing arrangements are done in a way that some staff work part-time for Labour Leader's Office and part-time for Prime Minister's Office and when they want to prevent OIA, they just sort of make it that this is Labour Leader's problem, this is not the Prime Minister's office problem and then they can get away with it."
As for your “statement of fact” claims, since the only links you’ve chosen to provide in this thread are in your comment @5:03 pm, I’ll keep an open mind.
I wonder if that could be considered a criminal offence of some type? I note on Three News last night Sharma handed over an alleged tape of a fellow Labour MP informing him of what went down during the caucus meeting that convened without him. So he seems to be a man who keeps good records. However, he will need to release more information to back up other claims he has made.
It is possible that the secret caller was trying to assist Sharma to cope/manage with his probable censure and laying it on the line as to the real probability of expulsion. Depends on the tone of the whole message.
I have very little trust in anything like this which is released as a "snippet" out of context from the whole. A bit like JLR's recorded call of Simon Bridges about donation splitting which was supposed to expose Bridges but ended up being a total own goal.
a)Total number of staff employed/seconded to work in Sharma's Office versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's
b)Number of contacts/complaints from Sharma to Parliamentary Service versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's
c)Number of contacts/complaints from Sharma's staff to Parliamentary Service versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's
d) The numbers of both (b) and (c) before Parliamentary Service asked for the Labour Party's whip's assistance
e) The dates and numbers of times that Sharma was offered training and or mentorship and the number and any details of his refusals of these offers
f) The numbers of both (b) and (c) before Parliamentary Service advised Sharma that they would no longer engage with him.
g) The numbers of payouts, redundancies, firings and transfers of staff from Sharma's office versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's.
h) The amount of sick day and personal time off for staff from Sharma's office versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's.
i) Has Sharma threatened to sue? (yes) If so how many times and whom was threatened and when?
I think that is all I can think of to ask and avoid loopholes and semantic silly buggery. The numbers should tell a compelling story. Oh one last thought – can we have more detail over the bruhaha about the storage of fridge magnets – I suspect that the miss-storage of fridge magnets is crucial to unraveling the mystery of this tragic situation.
This is yet another example of why PAYE should be paid by employers directly to IRD on payday. It is the employees money – not the employers do do with what they like.
Paying directly on payday would help ensure such perfidy did not happen. I have family who have been victims of this and student loan money deducted from their wages not being paid to IRD and have little sympathy for employers who do this. Nightmare for the employee to sort out and entirely preventable.
Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one is the most obvious verse but in this case given the Ubereats Psalm 141:4 might be more appropriate.
Incline not my heart to any evil thing,
To practise wicked works with men that work iniquity:
And let me not eat of their dainties.
Win was required to deduct and pay PAYE to Inland Revenue monthly by the 20th of the month.
Between November 2017 to September 2019, Win employed eight workers and deducted PAYE from their wages and filed PAYE returns accounting for the deductions from employees’ wages. But for each month within that period, except between May 2018 and July 2018, he did not pay the deducted amounts by the due date.
And we complain about beneficiaries fiddling the system. What this man did is repeated many fold in NZ to the tune of not hundreds of thousands but hundreds of millions.
That was annoying. It appears that a disk fell out of raid on a restart after a security update. It deactivated the TS raid. Tricky to fix. Shouldn't have happened.
Reason unknown. I will fix when I get back home.
It may be a bit sluggish. Running rescue mode so I could turn off the problem and manually start the required services.
Moteliers have the leverage not the government. Besides why rent at market rates instead of buying? It’s like telling someone to keep renting instead of paying off a mortgage
There is plenty of good reason for Kainga Ora not to buy old motels:
They are not built for long stays with whole families
They would need massive investment to bring them up to Rental Code
They are largely built in the 1970s and early 1980s and hence are close to the end of their useful lives as structures, needing major maintenance on average just to make liveable let alone code-able
They rarely have play areas or anything resembling useful facilities for families, as one would find in a new Kainga Ora build
When things go really wrong as they did in Wanganui recently when such accommodation was turned into a major meth-dealing facility, the owner pretty much has to gut the entire unit. No need to have that liability.
Owners may want them back for when the tourists come back, which is likely
But people are still having to live in them now. Government has been using motels for more than half a decade.
Given that why not own instead of pay high rent? If the building is at end of its life they can rebuild on the land they own once there isn’t such a demand on emergency housing.
If they bought the motels, this would suggest they thought the problem was not temporary. It would suggest they were incapable of solving the problem via other means.
What else are they doing that gives you confidence there will be a time when there is less demand for emergency housing?
People who want to sell their motels. Go have a look in Trademe.
If they bought the motels, this would suggest they thought the problem was not temporary. It would suggest they were incapable of solving the problem via other means.
or, it suggests that solving the housing crisis is a long term problem (thanks FJK) with no quick fixes and that we will need emergency housing for some time to come.
What else are they doing that gives you confidence there will be a time when there is less demand for emergency housing?
Not a lot. I don't think Labour can solve the housing crisis. They do do way less damage than Nact, and set us on the right path though.
This type of 'housing' is very far from ideal, and I don't know how many motels might be involved, but any Govt motel ownership wouldn't survive a NAct Govt. Imho, purchasing motels would provide a future opportunity to deliver public assets (at bargain basement prices) into private hands – NAct have form.
A whole lot of them are old, run down, and need a lot of maintenance. Also if as a government you wanted to be seen as managing a temporary crisis buying a shoddy old motel as permanent housing for our homeless might not be the right thing to do.
What i would like to know is, why the government not simply rent Houses of the market and put homeless family into them. Even that would be cheaper then 3500 per week for a 3 bedroom motel unit that this women found – whilst in labour – to house her and her kids.
it was that article that prompted the question (rest of the piece is totally barbaric, still processing).
A whole lot of them are old, run down, and need a lot of maintenance.
Yes, but we already expect people to live in them, so that's not an argument against buying the motels.
Also if as a government you wanted to be seen as managing a temporary crisis buying a shoddy old motel as permanent housing for our homeless might not be the right thing to do.
Again, yes, but it's not for permanent housing, it's emergency housing. Everyone knows the crisis isn't going to be over soon. Going to get worse if Buller and Nelson are anything to go by.
i guess the argument that goes against buying them is
a. is it legal? These places are for short term occupation, Fenton Street in Rotorua is zoned short term occupation for motels. The current situation is actually in breach of council bylaw.
b. is it safe/hygenic etc – we had one motel burn down total, and fires are quite common.
c. how many people can you shove into one bedroom units and for how long before issues arise, and we have motels in Rotorua were private security don't work anymore, these motels have police stationed outdoors pretty much 24/7
also what happens say if a fire breaks out and lifes are lost. Who is responsible for the death? Council? Management of the Motel? Government? Do we care?
IF buying Motels is the best we can do, then we have given up. Consider as well that 25% of a benefit is taxed right away to pay for these hovels. Maybe settling homeless with housing debt to be repaid at 5 bucks a week was actually the better option. But Do we care?
I don't have much to add to the discussion on Sharma, beyond what Sanctuary so accurately described above, and the point already made that he is hilariously available for numerous media appearances now, but still too busy to be available for the PM or the caucus.
I'd just add that it's always useful to step outside the incestuous political bubble where commentators and us poli-geeks reside. If anyone thinks that the public care about this story any more, they should really go outside and meet the public.
He'll continue to make headlines, of course. Public tantrums by an MP always will. But the public are already bored and soon the media will be too.
The next election will be about many important issues. Gaurav Sharma won't be one of them. Ask Jami-Lee Ross. Or Brendan Horan (who?) or Gordon Copeland (who?) or Vernon Tava (who?) or … the other ones so memorable, nobody can remember.
And for those desperate to keep making the false equivalence, here's a concise summary from the reporter who broke the Uffindel story:
The Uffindell allegations were substantiated by five witnesses, put to him, and the story checked by lawyers before publishing as opposed to Guarav’s allegations which were tossed into the news cycle completely unchecked … in an opinion piece
There seems to be some serious sensitivity here to any suggestion that the Labour Party might actually share some blame in the Sharma revelations.
The seems to be a blind acceptance by some of the PM's assertion that there is no bullying within the party, that the fate of Sharma was not determined at a secret meeting she called and which was only revealed when a Labour MP rather foolishly sent Sharma a picture of the Zoom.
The Ombudsman is doing exactly what he should. A letter to ask for clarification.
Of course, the Ombudsman is independent, but if/when the Ombudsman reports "no issue here", there will be a tiresome right wing chorus of "No, not that wasn't independent, we only want the kind of independence that tell us what we want to hear".
The Ombudsman is looking at the issue of how OIAs are responded to and seeking assurances around this. He is not looking at the Sharma issue.
If I were the Ombudsman I too would be seeking this assurance after Sharma's complete misunderstanding of the Policy and the legislation around OIAs. This would have formed part of a routine induction just as it does when you join the PS.
His lack of understanding about how Parliament/Govt/legislation works is clear from his statements about what he was told. Very mixed up. Clearly he had/has difficulty with this and seems to have difficulty with nuance.
Mind you if he is suffering from depression/stress etc as he has said coping with nuance and things that are not black & white is usually difficult and thinking often becomes a bit rigid. That is giving him the benefit of the doubt that stress is/was the cause of his inability to manage his staff or accept his limitations.
I have the feeling though, based on his seeming inability to reflect, (that we have seen) that perhaps there is some sort of personality problem or tendencies as well.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
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This is Russia's last ever war as a unified power. Putin's nationalistic paranoia has destroyed a potentially great nation. When he pops his clogs it will probably fragment into a bunch of smaller territories. He is so desperate that he's trying to bribe women into having more babies. And he's a gobshite hypocrite to accuse the USA of attempting to destabilise Taiwan & Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin revives 'Mother Heroine' cash bonus for women who have 10 children – NZ Herald
I'm inclined to think that any woman who has ten children probably deserves a cash bonus, whatever their nationality.
The US is not trying to destabilize Ukraine and Taiwan. It is trying to destabilize Russia. Ukraine and Taiwan are simply a means to that end.
It will take a very long time for them to replace all the equipment they have lost. And their demographics are against them in terms of raising future armies.
They still have hypersonic missiles and their nuclear capability is not…diminished.
Dr Sharma couldn't be tracked down earlier in the week when the most important meeting about him was to happen.
He had a very busy schedule, he had things on. Now he's on RNZ, he's been on Newshub and I see he's on Hosking.
He's on a crazed campaign, before he's on his bike.
He was never going to turn up as his argument is, it was a kangaroo court and the decision had already been made in the 'secret' meeting the night before.
This is obviously a tricky situation and apparently Sharma has had his lawyer involved for some time, which I’d do to if I were in a tricky spot with my employer. It makes perfect sense to have a meeting to discuss internally the options and possible outcomes before two parties in a dispute meet up. When there is a highly or most likely option it doesn’t necessarily mean that this is a predetermined option & outcome – parties should meet in good faith. However, if one party doesn’t give the other one any other realistic options it may indeed look like it was predetermined from the outset. By not showing up it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and thus a fait accompli. To have a leg to stand on, rather than spinning it to suit your narrative, you must follow (due) process and show good faith.
All of what you say is correct, however Sharma is citing the (recorded) conversation with a fellow MP as evidence that the decision WAS predetermined. I can only see two alternatives: Either that MP completely misread the discussion in the Monday meeting, or the outcome was indeed determined at that meeting.
If Sharma has proof it was pre-determined in the secret meeting that he was not invited to, then the second half of your comment is pretty much irrelevant.
Either you cannot read or you cannot think, or both. If he decided it was pre-determined and acted accordingly, then he forced the outcome to meet his pre-determined expectation. The fact that there was a special meeting set up for and with him strongly suggests that there were still things to discussed and decided. He failed to attend and thus signed his own fate. My question is whether this was reasonable process and whether this could have been handled better by Labour knowing that he’s in a spot of bother, mentally, at least.
Lol "secret meeting." Is there any organisation that wouldn't get relevant people together to discuss what to do about the loose unit who's shitting on them in the media? As for "pre-determined," the only thing surprising there is that they didn't immediately give him the boot.
This is what makes me doubt the 'other' MP or the tape. The other MP says that the Monday meeting had predetermined the outcome and they were going to give him the 'whack',
Instead we find that the actual decision by Caucus and reported by the PM was to suspend him from the Labour Caucus, provide a way back and time for this to occur and mediation.
I am wondering if Sharma's mole misread the tenor of the Monday meeting because I find that what came out after the Caucus meeting on the Tuesday, is far from giving him the whack.
Instead it seems that the function of the meeting was in fact to provide a safe and non-leaking space to express concern & disappointment at their colleagues actions and these will no doubt have been feisty from some.
The other option, other than misreading the tenor of the meeting and/or the function of the Monday meeting and how it relates to the Tuesday caucus, is that the Sharma's source is as lacking in knowledge about process and nuance as Sharma himself.
PM has said that Sharma has misread what his colleague was saying.
.
The thing is, we've all had to deal with a Gaurav at some time or another in the workplace. The guy who has lost the plot. Got a job he wasn't suited for and has popped a fuse. You might be the HR manager who inwardly sighs when he turns up with his lawyer and 100s of pages in his dossier, knowing you are going to have spend two days a week for the next six months to get rid of the guy. Or you might be the union rep, who has to sit through his diatribe sixty four million times before going to the meeting with the HR manager and fight his corner (been there, done that). Or his line manager who has to meticulously document ever interaction with him. Or his direct reports, who do everything to aviod and not engage and generally keep away from the guy who has lost the plot. Or just a colleague, who smells the taint of dissent and just wants to enjoy his or her job in peace. Once you've lived a while, we will ALL have been around a Gaurav.
Now the fact of the matter is he has lost the plot. That I think is a matter of obvious public record. Being egged on by a salacious, partisan media looking for scandal and breathlessly reported on by lazy court journalists from the press gallery, who like all courtiers thrive on court gossip and preen at being consulted doesn't help anyone but there you have it. The central question then isn't Dr. Sharma's rationality – he is clearly irrational, obsessed and operating with all the bad faith one would expect to come from that – but what led him to lose the plot, which leads us to consider his accusations. Which is all they are. Accusations. He has not offered a shred of evidence to back up his increasingly outlandish claims. The latest "explosive revelation" is he was forced (FORCED, oh the inhumanity!) to attend a workshop (practically the same as the Gulag!) where new candidates were coached on how to avoid OIA requests. Forced to attend a workshop. I mean, for God's sake man get a grip. Words just fail me.
Until he does get some actual evidence then in the great court of public opinion (in the algorthim driven Herald site his story vanished almost immediately) he has, IMHO, been pigeon holed with that Gaurav we've had the misfortune to deal with at least once in our lives at work.
Sad to see, should probably never have got the job, pretty unfortunate all round, all a bit embarassing, avoid at all costs in the lunch room, thank God he is gone, hope he does well somewhere else, let's hope they recruit better next time.
FYI…todays latest on this is the #2 story on the Herakd on line as of right now.
Brilliant Sanc. Says it all.
Have you seen the Australian TV series Utopia? It superbly satirises the type of scenario you describe above.
That's very much the impression I get too. When I was working in Kuwait we had a Gaurav who, when HR finally did manage to fire him, got pissed that night and chucked a concrete block through the rear window of the boss' Trans Am. Jacinda Ardern should probably count herself lucky she doesn't own a sports car.
going down in a blaze of glory. Someone needs to give him Jami-Lee's number
Putting aside the truth of the dudes claims. Labour are looking like they are a vindictive bunch of shits who couldnt run a bath.
Just agree to an independent inquiry..
The reason they refuse to obviously even more shifty stuff they are trying to hide
I've changed your name back to lower case (upper case is SHOUTING). Might want to have a look at your email address.
Yeah, yeah, they should have gone all lovey dove with Sharma, 'embraced' him, given him 'another chance.'
Then you would have been on here saying they were gutless, didn't have the balls to deal with him as he should have been dealt with.
And left you to go off sort of as vindictive bunches of shits do. And naturally put aside the truth of the 'dude's' claims. I mean why let facts and the truth intrude?
No -They can suspend him and undertake an independent enquiry.
That will then shut everyone up and bury the issue.
Suspend, have independent enquiry AND keep the findings secret.
That's the way to go.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/08/national-s-independent-review-into-sam-uffindell-allegations-to-be-kept-secret-christopher-luxon-says.html
No – release the findings. There is nothing to hide here. Sharma is a narcissist
Given the sensitive nature of some of the allegations, and the historical nature of them, secrecy and confidentiality for the sake of all parties, including those on the receiving end of the actions of Young Uffindel, is entirely appropriate.
Get stuck in Chris T!
You've smelled blood and your pecker's up!
Swoop! Strike!
Now's your chance!
I agree 100%! Hire a QC, do an internal review, and keep the report secret.
Perfect. Can you direct me to a template/precedent for this approach?
Mac1 below has snapped me: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19-08-2022/#comment-1906497.
This is now the objective of the Herald/NewsHub operatives pushing the story: The "Independent Enquiry into Labour Party Bullying" has a nice ring to it. Just substitute "anti-semitism" for "bullying" and you can see both the historical precedent and the desired outcome.
Jimmy, if your assertion the decision had already been made, self-centred Sharma deserved it by his behaviour to his party and colleagues and former staff. Some self-reflection by him towards simply getting along with people is badly needed. He seems to have no idea about working co-operatively. Right from the start of his entering Parliament he has been difficult to deal with.
Hopefully, by now his Parliamentary "colleagues" have learned that anything they say to him is likely to be recorded and used by him with or without their approval. Also that any personal correspondence to him, or which he has access to will also be publicised by him if it suites his narrative, We saw this earlier in the week when Darien Fenton sent him a personal message suggesting how he might get assistance. He then published it and Darien was subjected to hours of trolling by the usual suspects. The man is coming across as having a very well tuned sense of his own importance and of his own victimhood. Neither seems to rest on firm foundations.
If they can be bothered to dig back far enough (and they won't) they would probably find he has done it before. Those types usually have. And they are very good at playing the victim and turning the innocent party or parties into the perpetrators.
There would be a trail of broken egg shells his unfortunate contacts would have been treading…worriedly.
Any of his colleagues would be wary, should be wary of him. What they say could be turned into evidence against them and their party.
The upshot of that? He'll call the shunning 'bullying.'
Good point Anne.
An accomplished Narcissist …with, as usual for that type, no care for the consequences of such. Even to themselves !
Oh no. They care for themselves.
In severe cases, they will go so far as to commit crimes such as stalking, unlawful entries to property and other misdemeanors in order to maintain control over the life of the victim. Making serious allegations (sometimes anonymously) against the victim/victims is another favourite tool. That ensures everyone is concentrating on the victim/victims and not on themselves.
I don't believe Sharma is anywhere near that level, but they exist and some manage to get away with it for a life-time.
Oh god, sorry…. I of course, was forgetting you have had some quite "up close" involvement with those kind of swine.
And yes I do also see Sharma as maybe a lower order variety. Those who have known him..will probably be breathing relief that he didnt go as far on them ?
"I… was forgetting you have had some quite "up close" involvement with those kind of swine."
Their behaviour adversely affected the Labour Party in the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s. Unfortunately I did not know they were the culprits at the time. However that is the reason they later targeted me. Like all guilty parties, they were paranoid I might figure it out and the motivations behind their antics. Quite a story it is. Puts Sharma and co. well into the shadows. 😉
Hi Anne. Seems it was both bad that you had to undergo this…BUT, good that you had your Wits..and obvious Fortitude to best them !
Maybe one day tell your story….
Exactly Anne, "Look at them, meeting without me" "Look at Jacinda lying"
Does he ever look at his own behaviour? Even for a moment? Yes, and he believes "I have done nothing wrong" "I am not the bully"
Sadly, he has accused someone of misappropriation of funds, which turned out to be a travel allowance. Did he apologise?
He wanted someone sacked, it appears an inquiry found against him, and he interpreted that as undermining his authority, which he did not have to begin with.
Now he is calling on friends to back him in the face of an apparent long running situation of "I will lawyer up" "You are asking me/directing me to do training".
He has not appeared for meetings previously, accusing other MPs of some type of agenda. He appears to be quite rigid in his relationships.
Depression and focus on detail and documentation are obvious coping strategies, and his cry about long hours backs that.
He is clever annoying and pedantic, seeming to lose the main idea in a plethora of supposed slights.
Now he has put himself in a corner, so he is letting fly. An enquiry would be difficult as he would not take part in good faith the moment he felt it was not going in his favour.
This is a pattern, and there may be personal issues he knows about and has yet to face imo. Sad for him and the party.
"Sharma says he was warned that the machinations of the Labour Party would either discredit his claims or blame mental health. And the warning was sound. The Prime Minister's Office has moved to discredit him saying he is misrepresenting conversations, his wellbeing called into question. "
If that’s the tactics Labour employ, sad indeed.
LibertyBelle, he is the one who said he had issues around depression and suicide. He said it. Over a week ago. https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/mp-sharma-unleashes-fresh-wave-allegations
So, no, not the tactics that Labour employs.
Indeed, imagine the furore if such issues had been ignored once brought into the open by him. And rightly so.
That doesn't excuse Labour using the mental health of the alleged victim of bullying to discredit their claims though (which seems to be what he is claiming).
Doesn't answer the question of who introduced the question and what possib;e reply could be made given that he opened up the topic. Once opened, it had to be addressed.
I note also that you are hiding behind words. You wrote, "(which seems to be what he is claiming). Note the words 'seems' and 'claiming'.
If anyone is claiming without evidence, it is you.
No, I'm simply being cautious. The idea that a person's mental health could be weaponised against him to discredit his complaints is despicable. If true. And we don't know if it's true, we only have his word for it. At the moment, anyway.
If true, all your pontificating and insinuating here is based on idle speculation and the word of one person who is under a huge amount of pressure and, by his own admission, suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts, which will undoubtedly affect his thinking and actions.
If true, you simply keep sucking away oxygen here.
If true, I have enough of this pattern behaviour of yours.
If true, you can draw your own conclusion of what will happen next.
Truly cautious would, I suggest, be not to proffer a conjecture at all.
Otherwise you get a reputation for making stuff up to fit a narrative that suits you, as Anne alludes to below.
Evidence. Facts. Better than the unsubstantiated accusations of a man in some personal difficulty.
Well someone far above your and my paygrade wants answers:
Newshub can reveal the Chief Ombudsman has written to the Prime Minister seeking assurances her Government understands its transparency obligations.
"all your pontificating and insinuating here is based on idle speculation and the word of one person "
He has evidence that he has presented. Text messages. A taped phone conversation that the media have verified comes from another Labour MP. This is either a grand conspiracy, or Labour supporters will have to accept that this government is so transparent we can see right through them.
[You said it yourself:
Now, you’re claiming that there’s more than just his word. I have not seen it and you have not seen it, so you’re speculating and taking him at his word and distrusting the word of many others who deny his word, including the PM and Labour Ministers.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/473116/jacinda-ardern-is-lying-labour-mp-gaurav-sharma-questions-pm-s-credibility
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/473162/sharma-s-suspension-not-predetermined-labour-ministers-say
The truth will be somewhere in the middle, as usual when there are two wildly conflicting stories, but your conspiracy thoughts will not get us any closer to it. When new info and/or new insights come to hand and when there are new developments things will hopefully become clearer. Until then you’ll have nothing to add to what you have already said here. I will again put a stop to your oxygen-wasting commenting behaviour here, if I have too. This is your warning – Incognito]
Mod note
"Now, you’re claiming that there’s more than just his word."
Now you're being dishonest. You know my comment was referring to the warnings he received about Labour weaponising his mental health issues. We do only have his word about that. But we have text's and a recorded phone message as evidence of his other claims.
[Gaslights consume oxygen. You are a major gaslight here on TS. We need oxygen for discourse to flourish. We cannot flourish with you around. Take a week off, this time; I have no time to play games with you and I’ve got much work to do this weekend – Incognito]
Mod note
C'mon Mac1. Liberty Lady doesn't want the facts. She (if she is a she) only wants to "misrepresent" them so that she can claim a negative agenda which fits into the "Jacinda Ardern is a liar and cheat" meme.
I realise the entire notion that your beloved PM could possibly be lying is probably too much for you to bear.
I realise that your natural inclination to be deceitful and dishonest in the interest of a bunch of ultra right-wing losers transcends all genuine considerations.
Sorry again. No longer have laptop so using a phone and never text.
A if some one wants to speak so bad they would ring. Learning stuff though which is cool.
that is cool. Sing out if you need any pointers.
Support striking workers.
https://www.greens.org.nz/green_party_stands_with_firefighters
https://www.nzpfu.org.nz/news/fenzs-deceptive-conduct-is-unveiled/
We’ve long thought that our first responders should be fully professional. Fire, Ambulance, and Surf Lifesaving.
By all means provide a place for volunteers, but ensure that the majority are paid, from the public purse.
I would be a bit more sympathetic to the Firefighter's Union if they had not worked so hard for so long not to allow women into their ranks. Thanks to the persistence of Firefighter England, they were forced by legal action to admit women. However, there has continued to be a steady campaign of harassment and discouragement against female firefighters.
Different union.
This strike is by the union for professional firefighters.
You are referring to the UFBA, which is more focussed on volunteer brigades.
I just find it suspicicous Ardern is to scared to have an independent inquiry when theit was the first thing the nats did with their idiot.
You know. Given how open and transparent she promised her govt would be evers
National has open and transparent process?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/08/national-s-independent-review-into-sam-uffindell-allegations-to-be-kept-secret-christopher-luxon-says.html
The two cases are entirely different.
Uffindell has a proven nasty bullying past that should have been enough for him not to be selected as a candidate but National was willing to ignore this. His bullying and anti women violence (“hit the road fatty”) was hidden from voters.
Sharma admits to depression which may explain in part his recent behaviour. He seems to be very self-entitled, perhaps on the basis of his strong academic background. When power/authority/recognition didn't fall into his lap in the rough and tumble of parliament he threw his toys out of the cot. He has turned out to be a bad choice of candidate; this can happen. But none of his claims to have been bullied or other accusations against Labour MP's have been proven.
An independent inquiry into what exactly? Be specific.
This is what I'm struggling with Weka. I'm completely lost as to what they're meant to be enquiring into and what the substance of the complaint is. For all the noise there are not a lot of hard allegations of fact in the public domain (unlike Uffindell where it is crystal clear what he is said to have done). Do they just want an enquiry into the general culture within the Labour caucus? If so, to what end? Why stop at Labour – you may as well enquire into the caucus culture of all Parliamentary parties while you're at it. Those would be very broad terms of reference. The usual bad faith actors seem to be just yelling "Independent Enquiry" without knowing what they're really asking for, and these same people would usually be the first to rubbish Labour for wasting money on enquiries.
I'll have a crack.
The staff relationship problems clearly evident in his office.
How they were responded to by parliamentary service and party whips. The steps taken to resolve these and if they were made in a timely and appropriate fashion.
Is the appropriate oversight in place for new Mps given they can suddenly find themselves in people management roles with zero practical experience.
Is it really the party whips' role to manage employment issues between their MPs and the staff assigned to them by Parliamentary Service? Genuine question. I had always thought the whips were there to keep MPs in line on political/policy issues rather than operational matters.
Aside from that, those terms of reference sound reasonable to me although they have little if anything to do with embarrassing the prime minister so I don't think they will satisfy the usual suspects.
I think the whips have a role to play in relation to the Mp and how they deal with staff especially if the Mp is out of their depth.
This could be providing / arranging appropriate support. I'm not sure that's something that has been handled very well in this case and no doubt many others to the detriment of the staffers who end up putting up with shitty behavior.
Parliament is a high pressure environment but the staff dont deserve to be treated like shit and it's not ok that they can be and expected to suck it up. Nick Smith springs to mind.
Its something we need to fix.
This reflects the good old difference between "the public interest" and "what the public is interested in." What specific events need investigating?
Obviously the dude knows stuff they dont want out
So they will just keep him till the next election
You 're right about Uffindell!
He is also an idiot
Which is why they have an independent inquiry
A helpful assessment and commentary, which will lift the quality of discourse here beyond our wildest dreams.
So, all idiots require independent enquiries? That'll be the new industry, after mental health counsellors.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/129587238/we-need-to-stop-labelling-all-our-emotions-as-mental-health-problems
Exactly! You can read between the lines 🙂
National’s problem is self-inflicted because they selected a candidate who was upfront and disclosed ‘personal history’ and then failed to manage it. You cannot push forward a candidate and then withdraw your support when the going gets tough. It shows lack of leadership, managerial skills, good process, and loyalty – hiding behind a QC and a secret report is weak, to say the least.
Yikes, who would be left to conduct the enquiries?
You and me, obviously……
Just what kind of thing is Dr Sharma (so far) above posting on Facebook?
Fantastic. Nats crap. Never said they werent
Now can you give a reason Ardern is refusing an independent inquiry!?
I’d start with a full psychiatric evaluation, which will raise privacy issues, of course, and one cannot be forced to cooperate against their will. So far, one person has made it abundantly clear that he’s not willing to cooperate at all, or follow due process, but that he’s rather inclined to go down his rollercoaster path. Anybody who has some experience with clinical depression (and suicide) may realise that this might be a loud cry for help – it makes me wonder if it was sufficiently known in his workplace and handled appropriately (but not necessarily by his employer(s)) and at face value the answer seems to be “No”.
Good, thoughtful response, Incognito. I can hear the black dog barking.
You are a qualified and registered Psychiatrist or Psychologist are you?
Who did you have in mind for this evaluation by the way? Or are you suggesting it would be best to evaluate all the people accused of bullying. That is beginning to be rather a long list isn't it?
https://thespinoff.co.nz/live-updates/12-08-2022/labour-mp-gaurav-sharma-names-main-bully-within-caucus-alleges-misspending-of-taxpayer-funds
Any other unhelpful comments you want to make to show your usual prejudice and bias as well as your lack of reading comprehension?
Any professional, legal, medical, or other, knows better than to do a professional assessment and judgement online, least of all on a public forum, on a public figure who’s also in the midst of a controversy (aka shit storm). Clearly, you’re not in that category of professionals and more a sensationalist armchair wrestler.
MPs should model decent behaviour – will be challenging for some, but they can learn – best not to right off new MPs for a few misdemeanours – give them time.
I heard Sharma's interview on Newstalk ZB this morning. He gave very specific information about training MPs were given on how to avoid OIA requests, or at least control the narrative.
If that is true, it would have to be concerning. Open and transparent government, not so much.
Its true. Multiple levels of the public service right up to MPs receive training on what is able to be OIA'd and what is not. An important part of OIA legislation is staff being compliant with and understanding it.
Except the claim is that the training was how to avoid being subject to OIA’s.
Its the same training. The PS tries to avoid being OIA'd all the time, its basically best practice not to have to deal with it. What they take from the training is up to them of course.
Also, in future, please don't tell me your email address when commenting here as it allows somebody to co-opt and impersonate your handle.
I have no idea how you got to see my email address? Bizarre.
Oh I didn't, see anything. I merely explained to you why 'The Standard' doesn't publish that detail and keeps it a secret.
Do new MPs receive OI requests? There've been any number of claims relating to recent turns of political events, and no doubt more to come. I'd want to read an accurate quote, in context, before forming an opinion – won't stop some though.
The OIA for Ministers and agencies [PDF; August 2019]
A guide to processing official information requests
On another issue relating to transparency, some believe avoidance is OK, while others see nothing wrong with a little evasion. And then there's minimisation and mitigation – so many ways to 'get ahead'.
![wink wink](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png?x42494)
I would be surprised if new MP's received OIA's, but that begs the question of why they need this 'training'.
New MPs receiving training? Bizarre – surely they can just wing it![wink wink](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png?x42494)
Members’ Guide [PDF]
Aratiki Mema
52nd Parliament (can't find the most recent one)
Training for something you even questioned happens?
Do you mean my questioning whether ‘new MPs receiving OI requests’ is a thing? I honestly don’t know if that happens – do you?
Of course some new MPs might eventually become Ministers – guess it all depends on how steep Parliament wants that learning curve to be. The training of new MPs is evolving – wonder when new MPs first started getting training relating to OI requests – the OIA has been around for a while (enacted in 1982, under a National Government – who would have guessed!)
I doubt it happens, but it can't be ruled out. The bigger issue is what this 'training' involved. This is how it's been reported:
He also made the claim that Labour held a workshop to teach new MPs how to handle information so it didn't fall into the public's hands. That included on how to get around the Official Information Act.
"They said the staffing arrangements are done in a way that some staff work part-time for Labour Leader's Office and part-time for Prime Minister's Office and when they want to prevent OIA, they just sort of make it that this is Labour Leader's problem, this is not the Prime Minister's office problem and then they can get away with it."
If true, that not open or transparent.
If true [How difficult would it have been to include the words immediately below the quote you provided: “Dr Sharma didn’t provide any evidence to support his allegations.“?] – in which case the OIA and other legislation designed to promote open and transparent Government should be beefed up – nothing to hide, nothing to fear.
"If true [How difficult would it have been to include the words immediately below the quote you provided: “Dr Sharma didn’t provide any evidence to support his allegations.“?]"
But he has provided evidence, hasn't he. His own testimony. And is anyone denying it?
Is that a question? Jamie Ensor, author of the item you (selectively) quoted from @5:03 pm, didn't think so, but maybe he's biased![laugh laugh](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/teeth_smile.png?x42494)
"Is that a question?"
No, it's a statement of fact. He has presented copies of text messages, a 55 minute recording of another Labour MP.
Are you picking and choosing which parts of Ensor's extensive report, selectively quoted in your comment at 5:03 pm, to believe? How very partisan.
When Ensor wrote this, immediately after the excerpt from his report that you quoted, was he lying, in your opinion?
As for your “statement of fact” claims, since the only links you’ve chosen to provide in this thread are in your comment @5:03 pm, I’ll keep an open mind.
Your MO, LibertyBelle, seems to be "begging the question".
Fortunately, we see through this.
I wonder if that could be considered a criminal offence of some type? I note on Three News last night Sharma handed over an alleged tape of a fellow Labour MP informing him of what went down during the caucus meeting that convened without him. So he seems to be a man who keeps good records. However, he will need to release more information to back up other claims he has made.
It is possible that the secret caller was trying to assist Sharma to cope/manage with his probable censure and laying it on the line as to the real probability of expulsion. Depends on the tone of the whole message.
I have very little trust in anything like this which is released as a "snippet" out of context from the whole. A bit like JLR's recorded call of Simon Bridges about donation splitting which was supposed to expose Bridges but ended up being a total own goal.
that's what I would guess. Without hearing it, it's hard to tell.
Lol martyr complex.
What I suspect the public should know
a)Total number of staff employed/seconded to work in Sharma's Office versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's
b)Number of contacts/complaints from Sharma to Parliamentary Service versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's
c)Number of contacts/complaints from Sharma's staff to Parliamentary Service versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's
d) The numbers of both (b) and (c) before Parliamentary Service asked for the Labour Party's whip's assistance
e) The dates and numbers of times that Sharma was offered training and or mentorship and the number and any details of his refusals of these offers
f) The numbers of both (b) and (c) before Parliamentary Service advised Sharma that they would no longer engage with him.
g) The numbers of payouts, redundancies, firings and transfers of staff from Sharma's office versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's.
h) The amount of sick day and personal time off for staff from Sharma's office versus the average of other Labour backbench MP's.
i) Has Sharma threatened to sue? (yes) If so how many times and whom was threatened and when?
I think that is all I can think of to ask and avoid loopholes and semantic silly buggery. The numbers should tell a compelling story. Oh one last thought – can we have more detail over the bruhaha about the storage of fridge magnets – I suspect that the miss-storage of fridge magnets is crucial to unraveling the mystery of this tragic situation.
At this point Luxon must call for a bi-partisan independent committee investigation into the storage of fridge magnets.
OK he will want a new job.
WHO would even think abt employing him now?
This is yet another example of why PAYE should be paid by employers directly to IRD on payday. It is the employees money – not the employers do do with what they like.
Paying directly on payday would help ensure such perfidy did not happen. I have family who have been victims of this and student loan money deducted from their wages not being paid to IRD and have little sympathy for employers who do this. Nightmare for the employee to sort out and entirely preventable.
Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one is the most obvious verse but in this case given the Ubereats Psalm 141:4 might be more appropriate.
Incline not my heart to any evil thing,
To practise wicked works with men that work iniquity:
And let me not eat of their dainties.
Win was required to deduct and pay PAYE to Inland Revenue monthly by the 20th of the month.
Between November 2017 to September 2019, Win employed eight workers and deducted PAYE from their wages and filed PAYE returns accounting for the deductions from employees’ wages. But for each month within that period, except between May 2018 and July 2018, he did not pay the deducted amounts by the due date.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/129624817/christchurch-builder-pleads-guilty-to-300000-tax-evasion
You can do that now, it's called payday filing, and it's actually far simpler for the business, and smooths cash flow.
I'm suggesting it should be compulsory.
I tend to agree. It would not only resolve the original issue you raised, it would be far more efficient.
And we complain about beneficiaries fiddling the system. What this man did is repeated many fold in NZ to the tune of not hundreds of thousands but hundreds of millions.
https://www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2015-02/tgls-marriott-slides.pdf
.https://thestandard.org.nz/what-tax-evasion-robs-us-of-in-nz/
That was annoying. It appears that a disk fell out of raid on a restart after a security update. It deactivated the TS raid. Tricky to fix. Shouldn't have happened.
Reason unknown. I will fix when I get back home.
It may be a bit sluggish. Running rescue mode so I could turn off the problem and manually start the required services.
anyone?
https://twitter.com/wekatweets/status/1560476185535979520
Or simply renting at normal market rates using volume as a negotiating tool?
Moteliers have the leverage not the government. Besides why rent at market rates instead of buying? It’s like telling someone to keep renting instead of paying off a mortgage
Because the capital required to buy motels is better put to building houses so people don't need to love in hotels!
that only makes sense if you are counting houses, rather than people needing emergency accommodation.
There is plenty of good reason for Kainga Ora not to buy old motels:
But people are still having to live in them now. Government has been using motels for more than half a decade.
Given that why not own instead of pay high rent? If the building is at end of its life they can rebuild on the land they own once there isn’t such a demand on emergency housing.
Would they buy the motels forcefully?
Who would sell willingly?
If they bought the motels, this would suggest they thought the problem was not temporary. It would suggest they were incapable of solving the problem via other means.
What else are they doing that gives you confidence there will be a time when there is less demand for emergency housing?
People who want to sell their motels. Go have a look in Trademe.
or, it suggests that solving the housing crisis is a long term problem (thanks FJK) with no quick fixes and that we will need emergency housing for some time to come.
Not a lot. I don't think Labour can solve the housing crisis. They do do way less damage than Nact, and set us on the right path though.
This type of 'housing' is very far from ideal, and I don't know how many motels might be involved, but any Govt motel ownership wouldn't survive a NAct Govt. Imho, purchasing motels would provide a future opportunity to deliver public assets (at bargain basement prices) into private hands – NAct have form.
that's easily the best argument against.
A whole lot of them are old, run down, and need a lot of maintenance. Also if as a government you wanted to be seen as managing a temporary crisis buying a shoddy old motel as permanent housing for our homeless might not be the right thing to do.
But Govt did buy some in Rotorua
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/sold-government-pays-81m-for-boulevard-motel-to-house-homeless/WBRLIMDOR5BDLCE5T3EZGJMFX4/
and is seeking to lease even more spaces as there this homeless crisis is going to be permanent for a long long time to come.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/rotorua-motels-for-more-than-1000-homeless-submissions-open-for-resource-consent-applications/LHJQANMEK7BI4MARU7IL2LXCK4/
What i would like to know is, why the government not simply rent Houses of the market and put homeless family into them. Even that would be cheaper then 3500 per week for a 3 bedroom motel unit that this women found – whilst in labour – to house her and her kids.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/bay-of-plenty/300663775/pregnant-cancer-sufferer-goes-into-labour-in-work-and-income-office-told-to-find-own-accommodation
It all seems somewhat barbaric.
it was that article that prompted the question (rest of the piece is totally barbaric, still processing).
Yes, but we already expect people to live in them, so that's not an argument against buying the motels.
Again, yes, but it's not for permanent housing, it's emergency housing. Everyone knows the crisis isn't going to be over soon. Going to get worse if Buller and Nelson are anything to go by.
i guess the argument that goes against buying them is
a. is it legal? These places are for short term occupation, Fenton Street in Rotorua is zoned short term occupation for motels. The current situation is actually in breach of council bylaw.
b. is it safe/hygenic etc – we had one motel burn down total, and fires are quite common.
c. how many people can you shove into one bedroom units and for how long before issues arise, and we have motels in Rotorua were private security don't work anymore, these motels have police stationed outdoors pretty much 24/7
also what happens say if a fire breaks out and lifes are lost. Who is responsible for the death? Council? Management of the Motel? Government? Do we care?
IF buying Motels is the best we can do, then we have given up. Consider as well that 25% of a benefit is taxed right away to pay for these hovels. Maybe settling homeless with housing debt to be repaid at 5 bucks a week was actually the better option. But Do we care?
https://www.rotorualakescouncil.nz/our-council/news/news?item=id:2hw4fjprm1cxbyncy6py
I don't have much to add to the discussion on Sharma, beyond what Sanctuary so accurately described above, and the point already made that he is hilariously available for numerous media appearances now, but still too busy to be available for the PM or the caucus.
I'd just add that it's always useful to step outside the incestuous political bubble where commentators and us poli-geeks reside. If anyone thinks that the public care about this story any more, they should really go outside and meet the public.
He'll continue to make headlines, of course. Public tantrums by an MP always will. But the public are already bored and soon the media will be too.
The next election will be about many important issues. Gaurav Sharma won't be one of them. Ask Jami-Lee Ross. Or Brendan Horan (who?) or Gordon Copeland (who?) or Vernon Tava (who?) or … the other ones so memorable, nobody can remember.
And for those desperate to keep making the false equivalence, here's a concise summary from the reporter who broke the Uffindel story:
The Uffindell allegations were substantiated by five witnesses, put to him, and the story checked by lawyers before publishing as opposed to Guarav’s allegations which were tossed into the news cycle completely unchecked … in an opinion piece
https://twitter.com/kirsty_johnston/status/1560359241491173376
There seems to be some serious sensitivity here to any suggestion that the Labour Party might actually share some blame in the Sharma revelations.
The seems to be a blind acceptance by some of the PM's assertion that there is no bullying within the party, that the fate of Sharma was not determined at a secret meeting she called and which was only revealed when a Labour MP rather foolishly sent Sharma a picture of the Zoom.
So maybe its time to change the subject, and let the Ombudsman do his work.
Apparently Dr Sharma is doing fine now, and is no longer feeling under stress.
The Ombudsman is doing exactly what he should. A letter to ask for clarification.
Of course, the Ombudsman is independent, but if/when the Ombudsman reports "no issue here", there will be a tiresome right wing chorus of "No, not that wasn't independent, we only want the kind of independence that tell us what we want to hear".
The Ombudsman is looking at the issue of how OIAs are responded to and seeking assurances around this. He is not looking at the Sharma issue.
If I were the Ombudsman I too would be seeking this assurance after Sharma's complete misunderstanding of the Policy and the legislation around OIAs. This would have formed part of a routine induction just as it does when you join the PS.
His lack of understanding about how Parliament/Govt/legislation works is clear from his statements about what he was told. Very mixed up. Clearly he had/has difficulty with this and seems to have difficulty with nuance.
Mind you if he is suffering from depression/stress etc as he has said coping with nuance and things that are not black & white is usually difficult and thinking often becomes a bit rigid. That is giving him the benefit of the doubt that stress is/was the cause of his inability to manage his staff or accept his limitations.
I have the feeling though, based on his seeming inability to reflect, (that we have seen) that perhaps there is some sort of personality problem or tendencies as well.
I think the only thing that will put the Gaurav Sharma thing to bed is to have a full, independent and transparent inquiry.
Otherwise this will keep going on for ages.
Ardern must be regretting not going straight to an inquiry, as opposed to trying to smooth things over.
The boils needs to be lanced.
See my comment at 16.
The public have put it to bed. You may want to keep it awake, but please don't pretend the old "just asking questions" line is sincere.
I've asked you before, are you fishing or baiting? Be careful what you might catch or attract here.